


We Are All Runaways

by happyendingexo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Gaming, HEA_2017, M/M, Minor Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Oh Sehun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 07:51:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13806792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyendingexo/pseuds/happyendingexo
Summary: Running away from your problems has truly become a whole lot easier with the release of Pokemon Go. Baekhyun wasn’t quite expecting running into the love of his life, though. And Chanyeol certainly wasn’t expecting to be gay.





	We Are All Runaways

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt #021**
> 
> **Warning(s):** depression and mental illness references
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** The is a work of fiction. The names and images of the celebrities mentioned are borrowed and is not meant to represent the celebrities themselves. All original characters and plot belong to the author and is not to be reproduced and/or shared without written permission from the author. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Note:** This is my first (semi)finished fic. I thank you ad infinitum for reading it, and hope you can overlook the mistakes and incongruities that are undoubtedly present. Thank you too, to the prompter for this extremely fun and cute idea; I’m sure I didn’t write exactly what you had in mind, and I apologize for that. Thank you most of all, to the mods. They have been endlessly helpful, encouraging, and understanding.

One man’s trash is another man’s gold. That’s how the saying goes, right? Park Chanyeol poked his head out from the neighborhood dumpster. It smelled terrible, a combination of compost and for some reason, burnt plastic. But ya gotta do what you gotta do. And according to the (illegal) tracking app he had downloaded, Chanyeol was well-assured that there was a Snorlax somewhere nearby. He was determined to capture it, even if it meant wading through worn-out wheels and wandering through literal garbage. It was common knowledge that a Snorlax meant superiority in almost any encounter with a fellow Pokemaster, and Chanyeol was in need of this validation like nothing else. He leaped his way over two broken cabinet doors (his legs were quite long, and it was a bonus in situations such as these). The paw prints increased, meaning that he was nearing a creature. He broke into a light jog. Any second now.  
\---  
Byun Baekhyun felt confident in his abilities to hatch his eggs. He was an expert walker, if he said so himself (and he did). It was a talent, you know, to fall upon the perfect pace that registers on the app as walking, but also is able to get places. And all three eggs were expected to hatch shortly. The neighborhood was deserted at this time of night, so Baekhyun felt comfortable strolling around aimlessly, ready to yell as soon as he discovered what Pokemon he had successfully birthed. He loved being a mother. Any second now.  
\---  
He had seen the shadow of the Snorlax thirty seconds ago, and was spinning frantically trying to get headed in the right direction. His path was leading him towards the end of the trash piles, where the door gleamed like the entrance to Heaven. Sprinting, heart pounding, Chanyeol was nearing the most important thing in his life. He could feel it in his gut.  
\---  
Three in the morning on a weekday, within the confines of a sleeping neighborhood. Park Chanyeol ran blindly into Byun Baekhyun, both nearing climax.

  
“GOT THAT FATASS!”

  
“I’M GIVING BIRTH!!”

  
“What?”

  
Chanyeol glanced up after throwing a couple Pokeballs and picking himself up from the pavement. He noticed nothing until it hit him to look down. Baekhyun was almost half a head shorter than him, and even further down when sprawled against the ground. But what a magnificent head that was, with clean cut black hair, mono-lidded eyes, and lips that puckered slightly. Although in this instant, Baekhyun’s face was twisted into a laughable arrangement of shock, annoyance, and satisfaction. Chanyeol was too consumed in not wasting his balls to really notice. There was silence for a couple seconds, as he absentmindedly extended a hand to help the stranger up.  
\---  
Baekhyun could see and hear furious tapping from the hand that wasn’t pulling him back upright. He took the chance to take in the man’s appearance. Tall, dark haired, bright eyes that weren’t taking notice of him in the slightest. His eggs had only hatched a Rattatat, Pigeot, and Pidgey, so Baekhyun just stood waiting for the clumsy stranger to acknowledge his presence. Waving the hands that was still linked together, Baekhyun tried to get the other’s attention. He was waiting for his apology. What he did get, was a muttered “Snorlax,” chilly fall air on his fingers, and a view of the rude man’s rear end shuffling away. It was a nice ass, admittedly, a 10 out of 10 back profile overall, but still. Tall men and trouble went hand in hand.

  
“Hey!”

  
There was no response. He was either ignoring him deliberately, or far too caught up in his game to notice outside sensory stimuli. From the accident that just occured, Baekhyun guessed the latter, and he ran to catch up to him.  
\---  
“I said, hey! Is that Pokemon Go?”

  
With those two magic words, Chanyeol was snatched. He whipped around, clutching his phone that housed a newly caught Snorlax, level 32.

  
“Snorlax.”

  
The other man laughed, but it was one of those sarcastic kind of scoff-laughs, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening.

  
“Yeah, I got that. You know, I was actually playing as well. Just hatched three eggs when you bumped into me back there and didn’t apologize.”

  
“Oh, yeah? What did you get?”

  
He had completely missed the hint, still looking down at his screen. In fact, he seemed to forget what he said as soon as he said it, because he continued talking without waiting for a response.

  
“What should I name a Snorlax?”

  
That garnered a laugh, more good-natured than condescending this time.

  
“2136948347.”

  
Chanyeol looked up.

  
“What kind of name is th-oh.” Realization dawned, and he finally appeared to clue into what was happening. But then...“Ok. I have to go.”

  
And the rude idiot walked off without taking his eyes off his screen, intent on searching for the next rare Pokemon. Baekhyun could see how they had collided in the first place.

  
“BY THE WAY, MY NAME IS BAEK. BYUN BAEKHYUN, TO BE EXACT,” he yelled to the retreating figure.

  
He didn’t know if the other guy heard or cared, but he was used to strange things and strange people. It was something to write about in his diary, at least. He tucked the experience away for later recollection. At least he scored a Snorlax out of it.  
\---  
Chanyeol woke up next to a stray dog. They were both shivering, the animal chewing on some scrap of his jacket (?), him clutching his phone. The device had died, out of battery and ice cold. It seemed to be early afternoon, by the way the sun shone over the buildings that were surrounding them.

  
Sneezing, Chanyeol pushed himself up, careful not to disturb the mutt that had snuck up next to him at some point during the night. He was allergic to dogs, but that wasn’t its fault, and he supposed he had only himself to blame for the torn jacket (which wasn’t warm enough, by the way). He was also in sweatpants and a thin t-shirt, definitely not street wear of any classification. It made his head hurt, trying to remember what happened the night before, and he didn’t have a clue where he was. The neighborhood he stood in was unfamiliar, rich, it seemed, by the size and the clean lines of sidewalk contrasting with well-groomed lawns. Fuck.  
\---  
“Oh Sehun open the damn door!” Chanyeol was yodeling at the top of his lungs, knowing his voice was bound to reach the third floor window where his best friend resided.

  
He had walked for hours, it seemed, before finally reaching an area he recognized. In San Diego, almost everything was walking distance, especially among the rich neighborhoods. As luck had it, Sehun happened to live in one of those, making him easy-access to Chanyeol.  
He heard the falls of heavy footsteps making their way downstairs. A bleary-eyed man opened the door, silk robe and a heavy case of bedhair, using his phone to shield himself from the sunlight.

  
“It’s the crack of dawn,” he complained, as Chanyeol invited himself in, shielding his body with his raggedy jacket against the arctic temperature Sehun’s house always maintained.

  
“What time is it really?”

  
“One PM.”

  
“Your sleeping habits are truly awful.”

  
The two sat down on the plush loveseat, Chanyeol shuddering in relief. Sehun looked him over.

  
“Got lost again?”

  
They both knew that “lost” was the least of their worries when it came to him. He opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a sneeze from underneath his jacket. Sehun looked expectantly at him. A wriggling mass made its way to the hem. The puppy from before climbed out, shaking off dirt and the scrap of cloth it finally gave up chewing.

  
“What. The fuck.”

  
“I brought you a present!”

  
“My. Imported. Carpet.”

  
Said carpet was covered in muddy pawprints as the dog discovered another human in the vicinity, racing around the couch and yapping happily. Sehun looked at it, something indescribable morphing his features from its initial arrangement of annoyance. It was one of the few times Chanyeol had seen his friend radiate happiness like that. He went into the kitchen to give those two some privacy, and to make the coffee he knew they all needed.  
\---  
Baekhyun woke to sunlight filtering through pink curtains, making his collection of glass animals sparkle. From his bed, he ran through his schedule for the day mentally. Tutoring, and then studying for the test he had in two weeks. Oh Sehun. The name sent shivers down his body, and it wasn’t due to the cold weather. Oh Sehun was a notorious bully, a snobby private school student who was not only loaded, but also living alone in his palace of a house, making him doubly as threatening; he had nothing to fear. Except his grades, and the horror of being seen with Baekhyun. That was why he, with his freshly acquired license, had to accommodate the brat’s requests, even though his parents were paying him to tutor (read: babysit) him every weekend. Checking the weather (low temps all day, cloudy, 30% chance of rain), Baekhyun tugged on his fluffy pants. His oversized sweatshirt read “Let’s not taco bout it” with a cat printed on it, matching the theme of the rest of his closet. Teeth brushed, bagel in hand, he made his way out to his moped (the only thing he could afford with his limited budget).  
\---  
“So, you blacked out again?” Sehun came back from upstairs, puppy in one hand, a charger in the other.

  
“I wasn’t even properly dressed this time.” Chanyeol plugged in his dead phone.

  
“They’re getting worse.”

  
He nodded in affirmation.

  
“Good thing you have me,” Sehun continued, smirking as the dog burrowed himself into his armpit.

  
The phone lit up at last, and Chanyeol checked his recent pages. Pokemon Go, SoundCloud, and his DJ app. He tapped an app, and let out a whoop.

  
“What is it this time?”

  
“Apparently in the midst of escaping my mind, I caught a Snorlax.” He showed Sehun the new creature.

  
“Is that...a phone number?”

  
“What the shit are you on about, of course that’s not a --” Chanyeol trailed off, peering closer at the name of his new Pokemon. “Well. Whaddya know. I’m pullin so hard I can’t even remember it.”

  
“Should we call her?”

  
“You do it. What if she’s ugly?”

  
Laughing, Sehun dialed the number, just as the doorbell rang.

  
“I’ll get it.”  
\---  
The door opened, but Baekhyun was focused on stowing away his keys in the proper place (deep inside his pants pocket). Sehun was already walking away, rude as always, when he looked up again. But that wasn’t Sehun. Baekhyun recognized that ass from the night before, a burst of embarrassment flushing his cheeks with pink. He had been returning home from a night of gaming when he had bumped into that tall dummy by the dumpster and accidentally flirted with him. What was he doing here?

  
“What?”

  
With a jolt, he realized he had spoken aloud. It was a bad habit of his.

  
“We meet again.”

  
He was trying his hardest to be smooth, but was met with a blank expression. Did he not remember him? That was a new low for Baekhyun. He decided he was mute, and brushed past the other.  
\---  
Sehun groaned when he saw the small man who had just entered the living room.

  
“I forgot the faggot was coming today,” he gestured, not subtly, at Baekhyun.

  
Chanyeol winced at the derogatory term, but chose wisely not to say anything. He had no relation to the guy, anyway, and had no idea why he had referred to him so informally when they encountered each other at the door. But apparently this was the loser his best friend despised, forced upon him by his parents. He had been subject to many a rant about how weird and pathetic Sehun’s tutor was. But looking at him now, setting up a stack of textbooks, the only thing that stood out to Chanyeol was the guy’s outfit, clashing horribly and seeming to have come from a ten-year-old’s dresser. He laughed to himself, taking in bright pink wool complete with a sweater cat. Definitely an interesting character.

  
“Did she pick up?”

  
“Nah,” Sehun replied, defiantly continuing to hold his new pet instead of the pencil Baekhyun was offering him.

  
“That’s a disappointment. I’ll try.”

  
“Why would she answer your call and not mine?” the other complained. “But come to think of it, that number seems kind of familiar.”

  
“Probably someone you slept with, that’s why.” Chanyeol dialed, missing Sehun’s hurt expression.

  
The call rang, and went to an automated voicemail. Disappointed, he hung up.

  
“Dead end. That’s a shame. Could’ve used a fuck.”

  
He noticed Baekhyun watching them, a look of obvious disgust on his face. Secretly, Chanyeol didn’t blame him. He didn’t much like his character when he was around Sehun, either. Thinking he could compensate and hopefully still make a good impression on his best friend’s tutor, he went into the kitchen to get him some coffee.  
\---  
“Thanks”. Baekhyun accepted the offered mug gratefully.

  
He wasn’t much of a coffee person, but he had a feeling this morning would be rough. There were not one, but two vertically-gifted asshole men. Not that Chanyeol was really as bad as his friend. He was obviously fronting to avoid insult from Sehun. But the man couldn’t even be bothered to remember him from the night before. It was very confusing, indeed. But he couldn’t think about that, now. Task at hand was Oh Sehun’s atrocious English performance. Baekhyun had received two anxious emails from the brat’s parents, worried about the progress report they had received in the mail regarding their son. They had upped his pay, as well, though, so he couldn’t really find it in himself to let them down. Prince Snark was slightly less venomous in the comfort of his own home, but it was still hurtful being around his snide comments for hours on end. At least Chanyeol was there to diffuse the tension. They seemed a perfect match, balancing each other out. Sehun looked noticeably happier with him around. There was also a random dog curled up underneath his feet, not that he was complaining. He would have gotten a pet a long time ago had he been able to afford it.

  
“What’s his name?”

  
“What?” Sehun looked affronted at being spoken to so directly by Baekhyun.

  
“The dog.”

  
“Vivi.”  
Baekhyun glanced up in surprise.

  
“I didn’t know you knew Latin.”

  
Sehun fell into a coughing fit and pretended not to hear.

  
“I like it! Suits him perfectly!” Chanyeol piped up from next to him, beaming at them.

  
They both ignored him. He looked unaffected, presumably used to being dismissed. Baekhyun wondered about Sehun’s poor English grade, given he apparently was fluent in Latin. Vivi was a surprisingly deep name for someone as shallow as he to give an animal. He felt a nudge on his thigh. Chanyeol had scooted next to him. He leaned down to reach his ear.

  
“What does it mean?” he whispered, and Baekhyun shivered.

  
“Life,” he murmured back, and went back to scrutinizing Sehun’s miniscule handwriting.

  
Chanyeol sat back to process that, and turned to his friend in amazement. Sehun, under the scrutiny, blushed scarlet. It was kind of a cute look on him, bashful, but Baekhyun had a hard time feeling affection towards the man who had bullied him ever since he could remember. They had graduated a year apart from each other, Sehun a junior when Baekhyun graduated valedictorian. Strangers bound by an unfortunate friendship between their parents, as different as night and day.

  
Baekhyun returned late that night, too worn out by Oh Sehun’s obstinance and vehement hatred of doing anything productive to go out gaming for once. He had forgotten his phone at home, making him doubly as stressed out; he could probably have hatched some eggs or something while driving to and from Sehun’s and the store. The house (an exaggeration for the shack that was his residence) was dark and cold. His parents had left for home in Korea that morning, leaving an empty, quiet house in their wake. It wasn’t cost efficient to keep the heat on when he would be out all day, but now that he was home, Baekhyun turned everything back on. All the lights, the space heater in his room, the fireplace, his night playlist. He knew it negated the day of inactivity, but he couldn’t help being attracted to maximum brightness. It seemed these days he was just floating on unrelenting darkness. From the counter where the bread and jam was gently placed, the screen of his phone lit up, showing three missed calls: Oh Sehun, an unknown number, and his grandma. Kicking off his shoes, Baekhyun settled into a well worn bean bag chair, sliding the button to answer.

  
“Hello?”

  
“Hey beautiful! You finally picked up!”

  
“Who is this?”

  
“Chanyeol.” A dismissive tone, as if the name was irrelevant. “So, you left your number with my Snorlax and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to call. Would you, maybe, like to meet up sometime?”

  
Baekhyun could hear his grin.

  
“Oh. Okay.”

  
They set up a time: the following day at a nearby coffee shop for afternoon tea. Baekhyun hung up, more confused than ever. Was Chanyeol pretending not to recognize him when he saw him today? Did he think this was some kind of game? He was the epitome of fuckboy: attractive, tall, deep voice, friends with Oh Sehun. No one would ever mistake him for gay. Why would he ask him out? And more importantly, why would he, a self-declared mortal enemy of the Tall Peoples, agree to it? He was delirious yesterday after four straight hours of League at the internet cafe, and that’s the only reason he was brave enough to flirt that night. Right. That was it.  
\---  
“Sehun. Sehun. Sehun.”

  
“What.”

  
“Scooooorrreeeee!! Got a date for tomorrow.”

  
“Lit bro. Hope she’s cute for your sake.”

  
“Her voice was nice. Like she should be singing lullabies.”

  
“That’s gay.”

  
“You’re gay. Can I crash at your house tonight?”

  
“You are literally already in bed. I don’t know why you bother asking at this point. You’re here half the week.”

  
“Love youuuuuu.”

  
“Go to sleep, dumbass.”  
\---  
Delirious. So why was he so excited?  
\---  
Chanyeol awoke to an aching cheek and a wet hand. He had fallen asleep over his keyboard. Vivi continued licking his fingers, probably finding the three bags worth of Doritos cheese powder. The grandfather clock on the other side of the room read noon. It took a moment before he remembered his plans for the day. He leaped up, rubbing over the key imprints on his face and scratching the happy puppy behind the ears. His nose was runny from a night spent with it in the room with him. On the bed, Sehun was curled up into a ball, sleeping quietly. The boy looked angelic only in slumber.

  
He pulled on his pants and stole a white tee from Sehun’s closet. For such a slender man at first glance, most of his shirts fit himself. Chanyeol didn’t know if that fact should offend or relieve him; it would be hard getting his friend to agree on sharing clothes if he hulked through all of his expensive designer garments, but Sehun’s shoulders were thankfully broad as hell. For good measure, he grabbed a light jacket too. From the looks of the weak sunlight creating shadows of various bottles of cologne on the nightstand, it would be another chilly day. Rain, perhaps.

  
Sehun was out of coffee after the pot the two of them, along with Baekhyun, had powered through the day before. Chanyeol decided he would go early to the cafe to get himself properly awake and ready to turn on his charm for his, hopefully, cute date. It seemed promising; you’d have to be pretty smooth to leave your number with an animated app creature. Risky, too, relying on the assumption that he would check Pokemon Go often enough to notice. Stepping inside the small storefront, he shook off thoughts of the date, instead focusing on the drinks menu as he settled into line to order. Indecisive, Chanyeol always had a hard time choosing between the frou-frou drinks. If that made him a sissy, so be it, but he hated drinking anything too bitter. The customers behind him in line grumbled impatiently, but he ignored them easily. He settled on a pumpkin spice latte and a cranberry orange scone at last, putting a dollar into the tip jar. It reminded him that he was due for a trip to the ATM if he wanted the privilege of paying for the girl’s drinks later.  
\---  
It had been two hours since Baekhyun had fallen out of bed. He had been having a dream about fighting in League, and was trying to roll out of an attack’s way. This was a frequent occurrence, and as a result, there was always a pile of dirty laundry fortifying the edges of the mattress. He closed his laptop, the most expensive thing he owned, and tugged out a sweatshirt from underneath the stack. It was mostly clean, only slightly rumpled. Unable to find a decent pair of pants, Baekhyun decided on just wearing his pajama bottoms. They were decorated with donuts, which seemed celebratory enough. He had checked the weather and confirmed his outfit choice; it would be cloudy all day. An umbrella was grabbed as a second thought, and he was out the door. No harm in going to the cafe early to scope out the place while it was still relatively sunny.  
\---  
“You’re early,” a soft voice remarked from somewhere behind him.

  
Chanyeol whirled around from his deep scrutinization of his second scone. Baekhyun stood smiling warmly at him, holding a cookie. He looked slightly more put together this time, due to the matching donuts on his shirt and pants, but were those...pajamas? This guy must be going steady, to neglect his appearance so much.

  
“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

  
Baekhyun made himself comfortable in the seat next to him, removing the jacket Chanyeol had hung on the back and wrapping it around himself.

  
“It’s only 2:30. You’re half an hour early.”

  
Realization was a truck. Chanyeol looked down at his phone with the horror of someone who just got ran over by one. This was the chick he had met that night? He had made a huge mistake.

  
“Your voice sounds different over the phone,” he managed to choke out.

  
Baekhyun laughed, and it was a full sound, spitting out crumbs of chocolate chip.

  
“Yeah, people have told me that I should release an album.”

  
At the word ‘album’, Chanyeol perked up, interested now. He forgot all about the mistaken gender of his date, and dove into an in-depth description of the mixtape he was working on without further provokation. Baekhyun reciprocated nicely.

  
Time flew, and before he knew it, the shy sun was preparing for bed. The duo had each gone through multiple pastries. Chanyeol had forgotten to make a withdrawal, but Baekhyun didn’t seem to mind.

 

  
He was less weird one-on-one, or maybe Baekhyun was just like that around Sehun. Definitely not the lame ninny that he had been described as. Chanyeol felt himself hitting it off quite well with him. His date had agreed to check out his SoundCloud when he got home, and seemed to genuinely mean it. He watched him stand up to leave and give back his jacket. It was warm from Baekhyun’s body.

  
“Chanyeol?”

  
“Yeah.”

  
“I didn’t think you were gay.” Baekhyun was suddenly shy, unsure of where he stood.

  
Truthfully, that had come as a shock to Chanyeol, too. But he’d process that later. For now, all he knew was that he had enjoyed himself today with Baekhyun, consuming too much sugar and caffeine. And he wanted it to happen again.

  
“Can’t deny the public what they want, can I?” He finally responded, shaking his hips suggestively.

  
“My first impression was right. You’re an ass,” Baekhyun laughed, and turned to leave. Chanyeol watched the slender man walk away, until he was almost around the corner.

  
“Hey!” Baekhyun turned. “Wanna do this again sometime?” The other turned back again. Chanyeol’s face fell. The phone in his pocket chimed a text.

  
Sender: Hot date:)  
Message: Yes.

  
He felt a smile creep across his face.  
\---  
It was difficult coming to terms with how well that day had gone. Baekhyun had a spring in his step, and he hated it. It shouldn’t make him so happy to know that Chanyeol wasn’t straight, and that he had liked how their date went as much as he did. He wanted to do it again sometime! Still grinning helplessly, Baekhyun let himself into the house. It was dark, as usual, and cold, as usual, and as usual, he went about turning on all the lights and the heat. He was starving. Chanyeol had gone through about six scones while they had been talking, but he himself had only bought a cookie and a chai tea. Cafes had ridiculously pricey menu items.

  
He settled into his beanbag with his laptop and took the chopsticks off from the lid of his instant noodles. It had been too long since he’d been online. The parentals would be back soon, ending the free rein on gaming. He would have to go back to sneaking out at night to go to internet cafes. While he’d been gone, his teammates had plundered another team’s nexus. Baekhyun counted that as a win, and opened SoundCloud. He had promised Chanyeol he would take a listen to his uploads, and Byun Baek didn’t go back on his promises. Besides, he was always looking for new additions to his music library. An expansive knowledge of the arts could only be beneficial to the human mind.

  
Hours later, the phone was in Baekhyun’s hands, warm from conversation. He had given in and called first, excited about the songs he had listened to so far. Chanyeol was really good. It seemed he was mainly into rapping, but his singing voice was nice and soft. The passion the other had for music was evident. For some reason, that made him all the more attractive in Baekhyun’s eyes. Or maybe he was just a little starstruck. The man had a couple hundred followers! He was basically a celebrity already. They set up another date for the weekend, one day before they both had to go back to school. Chanyeol was a student too, at the community college. Winter break was simultaneously regretfully short and blissfully long.  
\---  
So. Park Chanyeol was definitely, without a doubt, 100% gay. Homosexual. A fan of the man on man action. A nut slut. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was this a new development? He thought of the man closest to him, tried to think about whether he had ever checked out Sehun’s ass, and came up negative.

  
Maybe it was just the effect Baek had on him. He had never met someone as into music as he was. It had been a month since Chanyeol had asked out Baekhyun on their first misguided date, and they still had nightly phone calls, talking until one of them got too sleepy to continue. Just the day before, they had bantered for an hour on the phone, analyzing TVXQ songs. It was nice having someone other than Sehun to be able to freely converse with. Speaking of, he hadn’t been over to his best friend’s house in a while. He’d be sure to drop by tomorrow after getting coffee with Baekhyun. .  
\---  
The dream gods were not feeling benevolent tonight. It was completely dark out, save for a full moon beaming stolen light onto trees that seemed to loom over Baekhyun with their shadows. He hated how often the nightmares drove him out of bed. Even with the lights on, the monsters still had a way of targeting him. He decided to go on a walk. Desperate times called for desperate measures. For Baekhyun, those measures meant sneaking out to play Pokemon Go in peace while the rest of the city, including his parents, was asleep. Nowadays, he seemed to be one of the only people still actively keeping up with the app.

  
Thinking about Pokemon Go brought up fond memories. The first time he and Yeol met. He smiled to himself, feeling the gravel from almost a year ago underneath his palms again, the warmth of the then-stranger’s hand in his. Chanyeol must’ve been drunk that night, though, because he didn’t seem to remember the encounter at all. It must have been fate, then, that Baekhyun had mustered up the cockiness to give out his number.

  
Unthinkingly, his feet had brought him into Chanyeol’s front yard. The first time he had seen it, Baekhyun hadn’t been able to speak. He had been led to assume his boyfriend was also financially challenged, from the corner of Sehun’s room that housed a keyboard and bed for him and the frequency he had picked them up in his moped from there. But Chanyeol’s house was huge, gifted with all the amenities (Read: a high computing powered PC and an Xbox). It was a bit far away from the community college, but was in the neighborhood right next to Baekhyun’s, near the academy. A perfect walking distance.

  
There was a 90% chance that Chanyeol was also awake. At any given moment Baekhyun texted or called, the other was also online. At this time of night, he was likely hunched over his keyboard, half asleep and mumbling to himself or a livestream. Sometimes when he couldn’t focus, Baekhyun just went to Youtube and kept replays of old YouNows in the background.

  
The lights were all off save for one dimly glowing window, but that wasn’t surprising. They had found it funny when they learned of each other’s habits regarding brightness; while Baekhyun craved light, Chanyeol was more comfortable composing songs in the dark. He said he was only fit for darkness. Baekhyun thought he was the sun.

  
He approached the house and stopped. Unmistakable broad shoulders and a slender frame are silhouetted against the window of Chanyeol’s room. A deer in headlights, a blinding clarity, the wool slipped off from over Baekhyun’s eyes. He watched, frozen, as a shirt was removed, up and over his boyfriend’s head, followed by Oh Sehun reaching over to close the curtains. Shadows threw themselves against the planes of Chanyeol’s face. Baekhyun shivered as he felt his boyfriend slip out of his grasp. Before the sheer satin drifted shut, they made eye contact. The other’s eyes were glazed over, drunk, and Sehun’s eyes were unreadable in the dark of night. Baekhyun finally turned on his heel, hands clenched by his sides. He ran, barely hearing the door slam and the cries of his name as Sehun gave chase for a few blocks. The crickets were silent, and the moon disappeared behind a miasma of clouds.

  
Something passed through the three of them that night, an shot of unshared secrets into a cocktail of mixed feelings. Baekhyun walked home with shards of a broken heart underneath his feet. He had guessed that Oh Sehun was gay, given the merciless taunting of everything that suggested at it. He also knew the man detested him. But he had never thought his childhood friend could be so cruel. Water roared above and made him deaf. Baekhyun choked on the briny aftertaste of deceit washing down his throat.  
\---  
Leaves rustled overhead, and a squirrel chattered nervously behind a tree. Chanyeol watched the remnants of a full moon dissipate into a kaleidoscope of a sunrise casting light through the foliage. Once again, he had blacked out. Once again, his phone was clutched in his hands. Surprisingly, it wasn’t dead this time. Unlike before, there was no indication of where he was. Trees surrounded him on all sides. Birds peered curiously atop low branches, and moss blanketed the ground with a mother’s touch. For all he knew, he could be in a forest miles and miles away. His feet were bleeding.

  
Trembling, Chanyeol speed dialed Baekhyun. The call rang and rang. There was no answer. He felt sick inside. This brain malfunction was a part of him he kept separate from him as much as possible, a minor inconvenience that he had kept hidden from even his boyfriend. Trust was a temptress that had betrayed him in the past. It was hard to give parts of himself away with no confidence he would ever get them back. But this time, Chanyeol was scared. And he wanted to hear his boyfriend’s voice.

  
It felt like the end, really it did. If a boy fell in the forest and there is no one to hear, does he make a sound? He wanted Byun Baekhyun, the man who listened to his music when he couldn’t sleep and reassured him that it was good. He wanted Baekhyun, the diligent student that swallowed his feelings to help an acidic Sehun. He wanted Baek, the horrible dresser and shortstack that hit his every nerve just as deftly as he calmed them. He wanted the one person he was too scared to love and the one person he was even more scared to let go of. His heart ached with things he hadn’t said, and he dialed again.

  
But Baekhyun didn’t pick up. Chanyeol brushed stray tears aside and got up. Bleeding footprints tried to find a way of of the maze. It was hard to keep going when there was no one waiting on the other side.  
\---  
A laptop rested upon numb legs, light blinking from the charger connected to it. Keyboard taps and mouse clicks accompanied chirping songbirds announcing dawn. Baekhyun had been gaming all night, staring unblinkingly at the screen to dry the tears that threatened to surface. It made his heart twinge when he looked down at the phone vibrating on the bed next to him with a name he didn’t want to see, and so he turned it off, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

  
Chanyeol hung out with playboy types like Oh Sehun, and like attracted like, right? It was all just a joke to him. Breathless nights spent skin-to-skin and then days when Chanyeol went off the radar entirely. To be honest, they hadn’t really ever defined their relationship explicitly. Baekhyun had just assumed they were serious about each other. That was his mistake, as always, caring too much. But nothing could make the uneasy feeling in his stomach go away. He recalled Oh Sehun’s desperate chase the night before, uncharacteristic of the jerk who couldn’t care less about him. Would a mere lover run like that?

  
Baekhyun knew without a doubt that he loved Chanyeol. He might have loved him from first sight, even, the hand that helped him up absentmindedly after he literally fell for him. But he was just the boy everyone bullied for being too feminine, too studious, too socially awkward. That night, he wasn’t even attractive enough to leave a memory behind. He realized why he was so upset. Chanyeol had bore a similar expression the night before. Seemingly intoxicated, unfocused, distracted, but not in the state he fell into when drunk, as Baekhyun now knew. It was like he had been another character, completely disjoint from how attentive and light-hearted he normally was. A character that couldn’t remember Baekhyun at all, as if he had selective memory loss and a chronic case of somnambulance.

  
Baekhyun sat up straight in his chair. His Psych class had just gone over this. The pieces fell together. He dialed Sehun’s number. The other answered immediately.

  
“Fugue amnesia.”

  
“Yes, “ Oh Sehun breathed, and Baekhyun’s heart broke all over again.

  
“Where is he.”

  
Sehun hung up. A moment later, the phone pinged with a text of location.

  
“Fix him,” was the caption.

  
Baekhyun ran.  
\---  
Chanyeol was stumbling every few steps, crazed with fever and signs of infection from his feet that hadn’t yet stopped bleeding. He had reached another dimension. The birds shouted at him angrily and blamed him for being unable to fly. Squirrels threw nuts mockingly. Deer kicked rocks into his path, making him fall. The sun was so bright, so, so bright. He thought he saw someone. He whirled around, and around, and around. An owl, jetlagged, called out a “Who?”

  
“Baekhyun. Baekhyun, Baekhyun, Baekhyun.”

“Who?” Round eyes gazed into his soul.

  
Chanyeol hit a dip in the forest floor. He couldn’t find the energy to get up.

  
“Baekhyun, Baekhyun, Baekhyun.” He thought he saw him, then. And then his world went dark.

  
“Chanyeol.” Eyes glittering like stars. “Chanyeol.” Those star eyes were glistening with tears that dropped on his cheeks.

  
“Crybaby. You’re getting me wet.” He heard a gasp as Baekhyun realized he was awake.  
The other looked away, embarrassed.

  
“I’m sorry, I, I was just scared you wouldn’t wake up. Sorry, sorry. I’ll leave now.” He got up from beside the hospital bed hastily, but Chanyeol reached up and grabbed his wrist.

  
“Wait. Why are you leaving?” He tugged gently, and Baekhyun sat back down nervously. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”

  
Something changed in his face. Baekhyun stood up in sudden indignation.

  
“You’re right. I have nothing to be sorry about, other than the fact that I was stupid enough to fall in love with the world’s biggest playboy. I’m sorry that I was naive enough to believe you might actually have feelings for me. I’m sorry that I’m not Oh Sehun.” He was crying again.  
\---  
He was crying again, stupid stupid stupid. Seeing Chanyeol lying there in his bed , perfectly fine, made the whole thing even more ridiculous. Oh Sehun had tucked in the blankets before he left. He’d told Baekhyun everything readily, putting their differences aside temporarily. Chanyeol had showed up at his house in the middle of the night years ago, lost. He was the only person Chanyeol had confessed to, and had been under strict orders not to mettle. Once in a while, the seemingly uncaring Park Chanyeol would get so stressed out about school and music that his mind got overloaded, causing him to fall into fugue states. Sehun had only in recent years been able to track him using Pokemon Go, which seemed to successfully be a part of most of his amnesiac fits. He knew that it had been getting more serious, but never felt it right to intervene and risk pissing off Chanyeol. He was an expert at the cold shoulder.

  
Obviously, he would be good at giving silent treatments. Chanyeol hadn’t even felt it necessary to tell Baekhyun about his situation. Seeing Oh Sehun so worked up over Chanyeol made realization dawn at last for Baekhyun. They were made for each other. Sehun was obviously in love with him, probably had been for a while now, going from the worry that still lingered in the man’s eyes as he glanced every so often at the still-sleeping form of his best friend. It wasn’t right for Baekhyun to get in between them like that, even if they hadn’t actually slept together like he thought he saw that night. Chanyeol only wanted to have some fun until he finally noticed he loved Oh Sehun back. Baekhyun wasn’t worth it. Evidently, he just wasn’t important enough, or trustworthy enough, or reliable enough to shoulder part of that burden like Sehun did. He wasn’t enough. He never was. Maybe it would have been better if he’d just been cheated on. Baekhyun tried to throw off Chanyeol’s hand. The other refused to let go.

  
They remained like that for a few moments. Baekhyun looked expectantly at Chanyeol. The blankets had come untucked from around his waist. Light streamed from the window, illuminating the highlights in his dark brown hair, messy with sleep. There was a cut above his eye, from a tree branch, no doubt. Bandaged feet peeked out from the too-short bed. Beautiful, beautiful Park Chanyeol.  
\---  
“I love you,” he blurted out, hand squeezing the other’s, which suddenly went limp.

  
He couldn’t make out Baekhyun’s thoughts, and it was awful. Chanyeol had always worn his heart on his sleeve, but never had he exposed it so brazenly for the other to shatter.

  
“I love you,” he repeated, anyway. Just to make sure Baekhyun heard.  
\---  
He loved him.

  
He just said he loved him.

  
Did this boy ever give him a break? A dumb grin spread across Baekhyun’s face, almost erasing all his other concerns. Almost. He frowned again.

  
“If you loved me, why didn’t you tell me you had dissociative amnesia?” he blurted out. Chanyeol looked shocked, then looked down at his feet, swaddled in white gauze. He glanced up at Baekhyun with eyes filled with years of bottled up pain.

  
“Is that what it is?” The words came out as a whisper. For the first time, he looked vulnerable.

  
“Yeah. Spans of time you can’t recall later after running away from home or work.”

  
“I thought I was just crazy,” Chanyeol said quietly, closing his eyes.

  
“No, you’re just an asshole. How could you say you love me with a straight face after keeping something this big from me?”

  
“I kept it from everyone.”

  
“Not Oh Sehun,” Baekhyun said, tone laced with accusation. Chanyeol’s eyes flashed open.

  
“I was forced to. He’s an awfully scary man when he wants to be. Why do you always refer to him by his full name?”

  
“That’s beside the point, Park Chanyeol.” He groaned.

  
“God, how did I let myself fall for a man who’s a head shorter than me and thinks he can boss me around?”

  
Baekhyun punched him, then, right in the stomach. Chanyeol gave a soft oof of surprise.

  
“THIS. DOESN’T. HELP. YOUR CASE.” He enunciated every syllable.

  
“What the shit?”

  
“Be serious.”

  
“I am.” Chanyeol inhaled slowly, gripping Baekhyun’s hand. “For once, I am. I have a hard time opening up to people, always have, maybe always will. This damn thing with my brain only made it harder. Not even my parents know...I guess I’m scared that maybe people will leave me if they find out who I really am.”

  
“Why would they do that?” Baekhyun was genuinely curious.

  
“I don’t know. I act so damn happy all the time that I feel as if no one should ever have to see me as any different than a vitamin.”

  
“You aren’t dumb, you know. But sometimes you can be such. An. Idiot.” He brushed the hair away from Chanyeol’s face.  
\---  
“This doesn’t have to be something you bear alone,” Baekhyun said softly.  
“No?”

  
“No.”

  
Chanyeol closed his eyes again. Baekhyun brushed kisses down his cheeks.

  
“I love you too,” he mumbled against his lips. Chanyeol tasted like salt and apples. They were graduating tomorrow.  
\---  
The moon shone through a room lit with the brightness of a thousand suns. A synth threw shadows around, accompanied by a microphone. That wild look was back in his eyes. Baekhyun reached for his husband’s hand.

  
“Let’s go.”  
-fin-

 


End file.
